Good Friday is one of the most important days in the Christian calendar, and it is a day that we probably approach with trepidation and a feeling of dread. On my part it is a day when I awake with a feeling of foreboding, knowing that it had to happen to fulfil scripture and to save me from sin. It is a day that I try to spend quietly in prayer and contemplation and reflection. It is a day that I know is coming but a day that I wish wouldn’t come if that makes sense.
Jesus gave so much for us and to us on this day, and it is still as poignant and meaningful for us today as it was for the first Christians thousands of years ago, as they witnessed the death of our Lord on the cross.
For this prayer I have used the verses in Mark 15 to help with prayer and reflection on this day. I have written the prayer in the collective voice of ‘we’ but it can also easily be prayed as an individual replacing ‘we’ with ‘I’.
33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
Dear Lord,
We come to you on this day of darkness with dread and a feeling of foreboding.
It’s a day we wished would not come, but a day that we know must come to fulfil God’s will.
We come mindful of all that the day meant then and means now,
When you gave your life on the cross for our sakes.
34 At three o’ clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
We come on this day as we are, with all our faults and all our sins,
As we stand before you as you suffered there on the cross.
Hindsight can be a wonderful thing, and as we approach you now, we do so now knowing what happened next.
We feel some of the pain you must have suffered on that day as you called out to your Father, and our Father.
We understand that you had to die in this way to fulfil scripture, and you took your fate with strength and humility.
35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’
We are sorry that even as you were close to death we still did not fully understand,
Misinterpreting who you spoke your last words to.
Forgive us that our intellect is lacking, and our faith is weak.
36 And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’
We give thanks that someone was compassionate enough to bring you wine.
And as the wine touched your lips at that time, so help us to recall this each time we drink of the wine in your presence.
37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Lord, we seek your forgiveness that we couldn’t stop it happening,
And seek your forgiveness for all the wrongs that we have done,
And the wrongs of the world that we often feel we cannot change.
As we come before you as God’s will was done on this day.
38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
We saw what we had done afterwards, when it was too late,
And we saw the destruction we had caused in your wake.
Forgive us.
39 Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’
Help us to be like the centurion, to see the error of our ways,
To recognise our faults and weaknesses, and have the courage to stand strong in our beliefs.
To reach out to others as Christ wants us to do, and to be faithful disciples in Christ.
Lord we ask for your forgiveness, your strength, your wisdom, your love and your peace.
Now and always. Amen.
Kathy Shaw
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